Get to know all about the “man-in-the-middle” attack

Have you ever heard of a man-in-the-middle attack? If no, then this article might help you to know all about it. This attack includes three players that are, the victim, the platform or entity with which it is trying to communicate. The most important and last player is the “man in the middle”. This middleman is the one who is most witty and is responsible for the interception of the victim’s communications. Unfortunately, the poor victim doesn’t have the slightest idea that there is a man in between.

The working mechanism of MITM attack

In simpler terms, we can say that whenever a user receives an email feigning to be from a bank and asking for his personal or account-related information, then this email could be possible from the “man-in-the-middle”. This email contains a link, upon clicking on which a user is redirected to a fake website which seems to be legitimate. Whenever he shares this info on this website, it directly goes to the attacker instead of the actual bank authorities. All of this is done by the attacker to gain financial information of people so that they can get their hands on your money leading to financial losses on your part. This kind of attack is also known as a “man-in-the-browser” attack.

There are two forms in which we can see this attack taking place. In the first one, physical proximity is involved and in the latter one involves the intrusion of malicious software or malware. This attack usually takes place in two phases; interception and decryption. The main cause behind this is an unsecured and vulnerable Wi-Fi router. This situation arises when someone connects to a free Wi-Fi hotspot or hotspots with a weak password.

The different types of attacks

The attacker can use a variety of ways to accomplish his evil goals and these are mentioned below:

IP spoofing- By using this method, an attacker tricks a user into thinking that he is visiting a legitimate website which is a fake one created by the attacker. This way, he can gain access to the information a user shares over the Internet.

DNS spoofing- With this technique, a user is taken to a fake website even if he is using the legitimate address of the website. The attacker uses such techniques which diverts the website traffic from the real one to the fake one.

HTTPS spoofing- If an “S” is present after “HTTP” i.e. “HTTPS”, it means you are redirected to a secure website and there is no harm in visiting it. But if the attackers have done some kind of spoofing with the website, then there are chances that you will be redirected to an insecure website. It allows the attacker to monitor your actions over the Internet and ultimately, they can use it for their benefit or share it with someone else.

Other than the types mentioned above, there are other ways through which the attackers may trick you for stealing your crucial information. The other ways include; SSL hijacking, email hijacking, Wi-Fi eavesdropping, stealing browser cookies, and so on. Hence, if you want to stay protected from this kind of attack, then you should stay informed and make sure your devices are fortified with proper security provided by Norton.

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Smith Warner

Smith Warner is a content marketing professional, he has experience of technical writing since 2012. He is also into sports like hockey and baseball. He writes for various platforms including pro-norton.

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